Unfortunately, anyone who purchased a Core would soon realize they need to get the harddrive to get anything out of it. I considered getting one for myself, but even my Xbox friends said avoid it and just get a Premium. In order to get the most out of the 360, the harddrive is pretty much a must have item, which is why I've always wondered why Microsoft didn't just discontinue the Core in the first place.


-Darkness

I could be wrong, but I have always assumed that Nintendo included Wii Sports and priced the Wii at $250 outside of Japan because they were anticipating a price cut from Microsoft.

Wii Sports has easily had all development costs paid for (from sales in Japan) and the only remaining cost is what is associated with printing the disc; at the same time we know that Nintendo can afford to sell the Wii for $200 in Japan. This leads me to believe that if Microsoft reduces the price of the XBox 360 into a competative range with the Wii you'd see Nintendo price the Wii worldwide at $200 including Wii Sports.

Personally, I think Microsoft should drop the core model rather than reduce its price to $200 ... I think most people who are interested in the XBox 360 want the hard-drive and wireless controller so there really is no savings on the core model.

The main point of the Core version, is to have a very low priced version of the Xbox.  Good for marketing..

And the core is also a good option, if you want a second Xbox just for Media Center extender or play in an other place, you only need to move the harddrive.

The core is about options. Buy this version, and a game...  Then you can try out the basic functionality..  Then you can choose too buy a memory card, a 20Gb harddrive or a 120Gb harddrive (depending on how much you wish to spend). In the future, there will be 2 or 3 different sizes of memory cards and harddrives...

I agree.  They should lower the price of the other 2 SKUs and drop the core completely.  I know when I worked at EBgames if anyone ever asked for the core we would always make sure they understood that it didn't come with a hard drive or wireless controller, and if they wanted to download anything they would need to buy one seperately.  It was rare anyone ever even asked about the core, but when they did and we mentioned that they hopped on the premium instead (or realized that an Xbox 360 wasn't actuall in their price range like they thought).

I liked this quote:

"If we don't make that move, make it early and expand our demographic [...]"

PS: Seems that my first prediction might just become true soon, and the last two irrelevant.

Big price cuts from MS and Nintendo could put some serious hurt on Sony. It could be the death blow on the PS3.

It is my belief that Microsoft only needs to do a couple things:

1) Increase the reliability of their console.
- The game offering is there. They have the widest selection of all the next-gen consoles, but there are worries about hardware failures and the like. This fall the 360 should see a price drop when they move to 65nm technology, which should also increase reliability and give a better customer image.

2) Compete with Nintendo
-  I can't stress this enough. Microsoft shouldn't worry about Sony and what they are doing. If Microsoft focuses on combatting the Wii, they will have to be more aggressive. There is over a 6 million console gap between Microsoft and Sony. That gap has been pretty consistent since the PS3 launched. The Wii has closed that gap to less than 2 million. If Microsoft focuses on Nintendo, they could essentially make Sony damn near a non-entity.

If that price drop comes around Halo 3/GTAIV ... I think Sony will cede another holiday to its competitors, and this is potentially the most crucial holiday period for the PS3. They can't survive another spring/summer with numbers like these. 

Inaction is the death blow of the PS3 ...

Sony needs to do something (probably expensive) in order to give people the motivation to buy a PS3 now. The PC3 is not in sales company that would encourage third party development:

http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=Japan&cons2=GC&reg2=Japan&cons3=DC&reg3=Japan&align=1

http://www.vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=America&cons2=GC&reg2=America&cons3=DC&reg3=America&align=1

I'm still betting they'll do it, but after Halo 3 (exclusive, which first day/week fans will buy anyway, no matter the price) and just before GTA4. Increasing the price difference to the PS3 for GTA4, is like reaping them of an exclusive game.

While price is an obvious asset to the Wii's success, to simply think that competing on that level will give the 360 the Wii's audience is somewhat naive. No doubt the 360 will do phenomenally better and possibly steal some of the Wii's success but I don't see them becomming number one in the long run of this race. But that's just my opinion. Even right now though we're still unable to adequately gague the Wii's true success as its sales are still being capped by its availability.

I think a price cut would be more adequate for combating the potential of a PS3 price cut. If the 360 could beat the PS3 to the punch with a price cut then it would make a price cut for the PS3 almost a moot point. But that of course is arguable as if potential Sony buyers are only deturred by the PS3 price tag a price cut of any kind will make it more appealing regardless what the competition is doing.